


Playing Games

by noodlerdoodler



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, But with American speak??, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Crack Relationships, F/M, Humanstuck, If you're reading you must be a crackshipper, Love/Hate, M/M, POV Eridan Ampora, Set in England I guess, Swearing, Who knows??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-04-04
Packaged: 2018-03-21 05:33:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3679806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlerdoodler/pseuds/noodlerdoodler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Thanks for having me, Ampora." She says, as she steps out onto the porch, "Though, I hated every single minute of it." </p><p>She waggles her tongue at you before turning away. It's dark out and you wonder if you should walk her home. It can get dodgy in Alternia late at night. </p><p>"I'll see you tomorrow." She begins down the path. </p><p>"Maybe we could meet here again." You suggest, as casually as you can. </p><p>"'S a date." She grins, "Maybe you could also take me about to a movie and buy me a nice meal and tell me I'm pretty." You're pretty sure that she's kidding but your heart leaps ahead of you all the same. </p><p>"As if, Pyrope." You force yourself to laugh and watch as she's swallowed by the darkness of the night. You're still standing there long after she's gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Project

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: As always, I own nothing except plot. This is just something I wrote for fun and is probably terrible. Might have fucked up the accents and quirks a little.

It was so unfair. You'd been crossing your fingers under the desk and hoping, hoping to dear god that you would be partnered with the love of your life- Feferi Peixes. She was the pretty girl that was captain of the girls' swim team and was basically teen royalty due to the fact that her mom was rich as hell and incredibly badass. And, as the captain of the boys' swim team and the most popular boy in school, you figured that the two of you were completely perfect for each other. When Feferi turned to Sollux fuckin' Captor, you knew that you would be working on your own for this school project because nobody else in the class would be willing to pair up with you. You rested your head on your desk and watched as person after person grabbed their friend by the hand. Oh... And you'd actually been looking forward to this project...

  
"Hey... Hey Karkat!" You look up to see that annoying blind girl who sits in front of you is waving eagerly at the grouchy guy who sits behind you.

  
"Sorry, TZ. I already called dibs." Dave Strider says and you turn around to watch as he pulls up a seat beside Karkat. You look back to "TZ"- it occurs to you that you don't know her name and you've sat behind her for nearly a year- who's looking around desperately now. Well, looking. Not really looking.

  
"Vriska?" She calls, hopefully, but Vriska's busy screwing around with Tavros and doesn't pay her any attention, "Kanaya? Nepeta?" And, looking disgusted with herself, she adds, "Gamzee?" Everyone's paired up and the girl in front of you is in despair. You hide your face in your scarf, chewing on a loose thread.

It's a few minutes before Mr Hussie comes over to sort out the situation.

  
"Why don't you two work together?" He says and the girl looks confused, so he adds, "You and Eridan." The girl's hand collides with her face and she moans in horror. You feel rather offended. You've never so much as spoken to her and you see no reason why she would object so strongly to working with you. You were a great partner. You were intelligent, you were going to do all the work. If anything, you should be annoyed to be paired with that useless blind girl.

  
"Wwell, that's rude." You say, as she lets out a reluctant sigh and scoots her chair around to join you at your desk. She goes to rest her arms on your desk and you slap her away.

  
"Don't touch my desk." You snap and she raises her eyebrows. And then, lays her head down on your desk. Again, you shove her away and she slumps back in her chair with a scowl. You decide that now is a good time to get the talking out of the way.

  
"Right. Wwell, I'vve already decided that I'm goin' to research the history of "magic" in and around Alternia. You can do wwhatevver the fuck you wwant." You inform her. After all, Mr Hussie said you could do a project on anything that cantered around Alternia. And you loved magic and science and shit like that. You go to stand up and head to the library but she slams a hand down on the desk. You jump, startled.

  
"No." She says, annoyance clear, "This is a pair project, Ampora, and-"

  
"I guess you can help as long as you don't get in my wway-"

  
"I've already decided that we're going to study the crumbling state of our once glorious justice system." She readjusts her ridiculous sunglasses that rest on the tip of her nose so that you can see the glint in her eyes. Fuck no.

  
"Wwe're doin' magic!"

  
"The justice system!"

  
"Justice!"

  
"Magic!"

She's on her feet suddenly and she grabs hold of your scarf, pulling you right up close to her and you can smell her cherry flavoured shampoo. You stare into the blank whites of her eyes and wonder how empty eyes can convey such emotion. You scowl.

  
"I said, we're studying the justice system." She growled up at you. She's way shorter than you and has to tilt her head back to "look" up at you.

  
"Let go of my scarf!" You snarl at her and she tugs on it, nearly strangling you, before releasing you. You step back and readjust it around your neck. You're about to head over to Mr Hussie and tell him that you can't possibly work with this savage but the girl gets there first.

  
"MR HUSSIE!" She screeches loud enough to silence the entire class. Oh god, now everyone's staring at you and her and some of them are sniggering. You blush fiercely and stare at the floor- there is nothing you hate more than someone making a fool out of you in public. Except possibly this girl, who's suddenly shot up to the top of the list. The list of things you detest, that is.

  
"What is it, Terezi?" Mr Hussie sighs and looks up from where he's sitting at his computer, drawing shitty webcomics. Terezi. Her name's Terezi. Oh-! You do know her, she's the one that used to hang around with Vriska and was second-in-command of that LARP club until they had that huge fight and the club broke up. Of course, this is Terezi. What a bitch.

  
"I can't work with this asshole!" Terezi complains and she doesn't seem to be embarrassed by the fact everyone's staring at her; in fact, she seems to be enjoying the attention. She's positively relishing in it.

  
"Wwell, I can't wwork wwith this bitch!" You counter, crossing your arms.

Mr Hussie looks between the two of you, inhales and then exhales heavily between his teeth.

  
"You're just going to have to put up with each other." he tells the two of you, "Because everyone else has a partner."

  
"Can't I just go in a three? Or work on my own?" Terezi makes a last ditch effort, which is met with another sigh and head shake. You collapse in your seat, defeated.

However, Terezi is not going to be won over easily and she just stands in front of your desk with her hands on her hips.

  
"I refuse." She said. You have to work hard not to stare at her ass, which is right in your line of view. It's not even like you care about asses at all- why is everyone so obsessed with them?- but it really is right in front of your eyes and you can see the band of her teal underwear peeking out over the top of her low slung jeans. You can also see the freckled skin of her lower back. Staring at those freckles makes you feel more flustered than staring at her ass.

  
"Are you staring at her ass?" Vriska decides to embarrass you, yelling it across the room. There's a round of laughter and you blush bright red again. Today was not going well for you. Terezi moved away from your desk sharpish.

Eventually, Mr Hussie just takes Terezi aside so they can argue outside the classroom instead of right in front of the class. And it's at least twenty minutes before they return, him grinning and her slumped over miserably. She returns to her seat in front of your desk and you lift your head up from where you'd been sleeping on your desk. You rub your eyes behind your glasses.

  
"You lost, Tez?" You ask, lazily, and she looks like she could knock you straight out.

  
"So, do you want me to look into the Alternia Witch Trials?" is all she replies and you wonder what the hell Mr Hussie said to her. She sounds so defeated.

  
"Wwhat's wwrong?" You ask.

  
"Just want to get this dumb project out of the way. I'll head to the library-" But then, the bell rings and you groan because you only have a week to get this done. You're not going to have enough time unless you do the work outside of school.

  
"So..." You say, hesitantly, "I guess... I'll havve to meet you after school?"

Ew, ew, ew. The idea of meeting this... This... Bitch outside of school disgusts you.

"Don't you have swim practice?" She says, coldly, and she turns away and begins packing her stuff back into her backpack.

"I mean, after that. Is four good for you?" You hoist your bag onto you shoulder without breaking your gaze away from her. She zips her dragon backpack- god, it's the tackiest thing- up slowly, trying to put off answering your question.

"Why? Do you want to hang out with me or something?" You can't see her face but you're sure that she's grinning.

  
"Just wwant to get this dumb project out of the wway." You reply, feeling smart.

  
"Touché." She pulls her bag on and turns to face you again, "I can do four. I have debate club anyway. Where will I see you, Ampora?"

  
"Howw about just outside the school entrance?" You suggest. It's as good a place as any.

  
"It's a date." Terezi's definitely grinning at you and you make a choking noise.

  
"Fuck no." It irritates you that she rubs you up the wrong way so easily. You hate her. You hate her more than math and salt water in your eyes and seafood and your brother and those filthy cigarettes he smokes and your dad and your next door neighbour, Gamzee Makara, who's always trying to sell your drugs over the garden hedge.

You hate her!

  
"I don't mean to tear you two apart but you really should be heading to your next class." Mr Hussie says and you realise that everyone's left the classroom already and that you're gonna be late. You break away from Terezi and leave the room, careful not to glance back at her.


	2. The Dinner

It was so unfair. You couldn't believe that you of all people was having Terezi Pyrope visit your house after school. Going to the public- ugh- library with her yesterday was humiliating enough. She'd run between the shelves, back and forth, back and forth. And she'd leaned over you when you were reading, leaning so close that you could smell strawberry milkshakes on her breath and cinnamon body spray on her skin and cherry shampoo in her hair. To top it off, the librarian you'd spoken to seemed pretty convinced Terezi was your girlfriend. That was bad enough.

But actually having her- Terezi Pyrope- at your house? Disgusting! You couldn't stop glancing at her throughout the school day, just worrying. You worried about what your dad was going to think. You worried about what Cronus was going to think. You worried about what the neighbours would think. And every time you glanced up to see Terezi hunched over her work, your nervousness increased. Anxiety tugged at your gut until you felt horribly sick, like you could throw up. A few times, you thought you _were_ going to throw up.

You couldn't face lunch and spent the whole of last period taking deep breaths and glaring at Sollux every time he teased you about how pale you'd gone. God, you hated Sollux. But not as much as you hated her. Your hate for Sollux was cold, your hate for Terezi was red hot. The day rushed to a close and suddenly, you were waiting outside the school gates for Miss Pyrope.

She was supposed to meet you there straight after school but, of course, she showed up nearly fifteen minutes late. She didn't even apologise, she just offered you a grin and shoved her backpack into your arms. You nearly doubled over under the weight of it.

  
"Wwhat'vve you got in here? Fuckin' rocks?" You glare at her and her grin widens.

  
"Maybe." She loops her arm through yours, annoying unaware of the fact that you need personal space and seemingly unembarrassed. Your face turns a dark shade of red and you look around to make sure nobody sees you this close to Terezi.

  
"Tez... I'm not comfortable-"

  
"Good." She said, "I like making you uncomfortable." She liked playing games with you, you knew that, and she always liked to win. She hated losing at anything.

  
"Wwell... This wway then..." You begin to lead her down the block, suddenly aware of how hot and sweaty her arm is. Disgusting. Utterly and completely disgusting. You never sweat, you are above it. But it does prove one thing; she's more nervous than she's letting on.

As you walk, you notice that she keeps jabbing you with her cane and pretending like it's an accident. And she steps on your feet and trips you up, causing you to nearly land on your face more than once. She engages you in intellectual debates that you are sure you are winning, until she suddenly says something that pulls the rug from under you, and you know that she's been playing you the whole time. She's a living, walking, breathing mindfuck. Then, she'll always laugh and ram you in the ribs with her elbow. It's almost a relief when you reach your home as you have to pull your arm free to enter the security code.

  
"Oh, Mr Ampora. How posh your house is." Terezi says, in a mocking tone, "Snobby brat."

  
"I'd rather be a snobby brat than a bratty snob." You reply instantly, "At least I don't irritate and piss people off every time I open my mouth."

  
"You have no idea!" She snorts. You have no idea if she's calling you a brat or herself. Nevertheless, you help her through the security gate because you are a gentleman. As your father reminds you on a daily basis. Speaking of your father, he should be home soon if he's not already. You turn to Terezi.

"Please just don't talk to my family." You beg. It's too late though, she's already running up to the front door with her coat flying behind her like a cape. You chase after her, stumbling as your scarf flaps in front of your eyes and you can't see anything. You keep running blindly. And run directly into your older brother, who's waiting out on the porch with a cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth. You pull a face of disgust and untangle your scarf, taking several steps back.

  
"Eridan... Pullin' in the ladies I see..." He winks at you and you could honestly kill him right here and now. Terezi laughs as if it's the funniest thing she's ever heard and you only realise that it's sarcastic, when she leans forward and kicks your brother hard in the shin.

  
"She fights back!" Cronus yelped, grinning, "She's a keeper, Eridan. Real fuckin' kinky."

  
"I will hurt you, pervert." Terezi's holding her cane as if it's some kind of sword and glaring intensely at him, "My sister warned me about you. I'll kick your ass, I swear to god." You grab her by her sleeve and tug her past your brother, pulling her into the house. You can't believe she spoke like that to Cro!

You kick your shoes off and immediately head through the hall to the stairs, expecting her to follow. You only realise as you begin up the stairs that she's stopped. And she's standing in the middle of the huge hallway, spinning around in a circle with her arms flung out to the side. And she's smiling wider than you've ever seen and her eyes are sparkling behind her hideous glasses. Her hair flies out in a curtain behind her head and she just spins and spins and spins. You're staring at her.

  
"Tez... Come on..." You gesture for her to hurry up and then remember that she's blind. Dumbass. Shen stops where she is, her hair falling back against her neck and shoulders in messy waves.

  
"I'm coming on..." She races down the hall, skidding the last few meters in her socks. She leaps onto the first step and faces you, creepily close. She could pin you to the wall right now and gut you with that cane of hers and you wouldn't even be surprised.

  
"Your house is huge." She says and you don't know if it's a compliment or an insult or what. You just shake your head and continue up the stairs, this time listening to her heavy footsteps to make sure that she's following you. She does have very heavy footsteps, as if she's trying to break every single polished mahogany floorboard in your house one by one and gives no fucks about it whatsoever. You clench your hands into fists so hard that your nails dig into the palms of your hands and nearly draw blood.

  
"Problem?" Terezi says innocently, even though she knows what the damn problem is, that bitch. She's playing you again.

  
"No problem." You say smoothly as you reach the top of the first set of stairs and you begin up the second. God, how you hate her. Just the sight of her stamping up your stairs is enough to make you seethe. You think she'd at least brush her hair or wear a pretty dress or something; you think she'd want to make a good impression on your family. It's as you reach the second floor and use the special hook to pull down the ladder to the attic you realise something. Terezi Pyrope isn't you and she gives literally no fucks about her appearance. This bugs you immensely and you practically claw your way up the ladder to the attic- your attic. You got the attic because your dad wanted to shove you as far away from him as humanly possible. Well, he never said that but it's probably true.

"Eridan?" You realise as you reach the top and sit on the purple carpet that she's still standing at the foot of the ladder, "looking" up at you. The light glints off her glasses so that you can't see her eyes behind them.

  
"What's your problem?" You snarl, "Can't handle a ladder, Pyrope?" She snarls back up at you and grabs hold of a rung, pulling herself up. She lands beside you with a grunt and lies down on her back.

  
"I'll have you know that I have a treehouse at home." She mutters.

  
"Ooh, la-di-da." You can't resist the urge to tease her, "A treehouse. Tell me, does your treehouse fit your huge family of bitches?" You know nothing about her family, except that she has an older sister in your brother's grade, but if they're anything like her...

  
"Mhm." She just kind of shrugs and sitting up on her scabby knees, "I got you information on the witch trials." She reaches for her backpack, which you tossed aside, and unzips it. She begins to rifle through her belongings, leaving you to wonder why she was so sensitive when it came to her family.

  
"I didn't mean to insult your family, Pyrope." You say, watching her as she pulls her binder out of her backpack and flips it open. She just shrugs in acknowledgement of your statement. This pisses you off.

  
"You're meant to forgive me, asshole." You murmur and she laughs, handing your her binder. You look down and see nothing but a blank page. Upon second glance, you realise the whole page is written in Braille. Terezi throws back her head as she laughs and you see every single one of her sharp teeth behind the braces trying to hold them back. Bitch.

  
"Here. Let me help you read it." She reaches you over and takes your freezing cold hand in her warm one, "Dear god, Ampora, are you dead? You're so cold!"

  
"Are you dead, Pyrope? You're so hot!" You regret it instantly.

  
"I know." She smirks, "I'm smoking hot. Anyway..." Her index finger wraps around yours, her chipped nail scratching against your skin and she helps you trace the Braille letters, "'The Alternia Witch Trials began in...'"

After a while, her grip on you relaxes a little and the awkwardness vanishes as she helps you read the rest of the page. You lean into her and your eyes begin to fall closed as her usually irritating voice softens a little. Her chest is warm too, you realise, as your head falls against it. You're beginning to grow sleepy. You've not felt this relaxed and... Almost happy... in a while.

  
"Vwovw..." Your brother's voice snaps you out of your stupid and you shove Terezi away fast, "I'wve got condoms if you guys need them."

  
"I'll kick your ass." Terezi says, incredibly coldly, and you wonder why she feels so strongly against your brother. Yes, he's an asshole and a man whore and horribly embarrassing and you hate him but you've never said anything so cold to him.

  
"Rawr..." Cronus chuckles, "Feel free to do that anytime you vwant, babe."

  
"Did you come up here just to be an ass?" You roll your eyes.

  
"Partly. But dad vwanted me to tell you that dinners ready an' your girlfriend's vwelcome to stay."

  
"She's not my girlfriend!" You growl at him.

  
"He wishes I was." Terezi quirks an eyebrow.

  
"I'll leawve you tvwo alone..." Cronus disappears back down the ladder and you turn to Terezi with a glare.

  
"Wwhat'd you say that for?"

  
"Because it was the only way to get your brother to leave me alone." She hisses.

  
"That wwon't stop my brother, he'll flirt wwith anything that movves." You say, "But-" you can't believe you're saying this, "Maybe I can pretend to be your boyfriend. Just to keep Cronus's filthy hands off you." It's meant to be a joke but it doesn't sound like one. She just sticks her tongue out at you and stands up, groaning and stretching her arms. You've both been slumped against each other for too long and it feels weird to break away from her. You can still feel phantom fingers wrapped around yours, warm and soft.

Your dad is a judgemental asshole, as usual.

  
"Miss Pyrope." He says, "How nice to meet you. Eridan told me you're working on a project together." That's before she even sits herself down at the table as far from Cronus as she can get and you plonk yourself down on her other side.

  
"Yes, sir." Terezi says, and thank god she's not being her obnoxious self for once, "We're studying witch trials and the condemnation of magic in Alternia. And how science came about from superstition and experiments."

  
"That sounds like bullshit." Cronus slumps as much as he dares in his seat, your dad paying him very little attention for once. The kitchen maid comes through with the food then and begins to serve it out equally. Terezi looks surprised.

  
"Problem, Miss Pyrope?" Your dad says, quick to pick up on every little expression or mannerism.

  
"You have servants." She says in bewilderment.

  
"You don't?" You look at her in confusion, "Oh, of course you don't. I forgot your family is a lot poorer than ours."

She pulls a face at you.

"Some of us can afford such luxuries." Your dad is smug, of course. He loves having people of lower wealth around so he can show off all his belongings and servants and clothes and ways with the ladies.

  
"Anyway, Miss Pyrope-"

  
"Terezi." She puts in. Your dad flinches. You tense.

  
"Terezi." He seems to hate the taste of the word in his mouth, "I'd like to get to know you better. I know all about Kankri, of course." He points a fork at Cronus, who shrugs, "So, what are you interested in? What do you want to do?"

  
"I want to be a legislacerator, sir." Terezi says, "I want to be a lawyer." She's shrunk into her shell strangely and looks very uncomfortable. You shift in your seat so that your leg brushes up against hers. She's tense and awkward but she rubs her warm ankle against yours- maybe by accident, maybe not.

  
"Law." Your dad, who's probably never worked a single day in his life, looks amused, "Hard work, law."

  
"My mom was a lawyer. Is a lawyer." Terezi says quickly, fierceness burning in her eyes, "I want to follow in her footsteps and make her proud." She's clenching a fork unnecessarily tight in her hand and spoons some potato into her mouth to avoid further questions. You glance sideways at her, curious now. What was she talking about?

  
"Of course, I understand." Your dad nods to her and stands up. He hasn't touched his food and he won't now, not now that he's heading outside to light a cigarette. The door closes behind him. Instantly, Terezi relaxes, you bury your face in your scarf and Cronus slumps back in seat. The tension vanishes from the air. The rest of the meal is enjoyed quietly and every now and again, your eyes meet your brother's gaze. He winks a lot. Maybe he has a twitch.

You go back up to your room with Terezi and began to write out some of the information on a poster in your neat cursive writing. She lies on your bed, her feet resting on your pillow and her head at the foot of your bed. She reads the facts aloud slowly so that you can write them down. Time slips by quickly as you write and banter back and forth between the two of you. She makes several jokes about how you've finally got a girl in your bed but you're not even in with her. You smack her over the head each time. Before you know it, it's nearly nine and you're about to suggest that she stays the night, when she says she must go before Latula starts to wonder if she's dead in a ditch. It's a shame because you were really hoping that you could convince her to watch a movie with you. Not that you want to spend anymore time with her, you hate her. You feel enraged just looking at her stupid face. You hate her. Definitely.

  
"Thanks for having me, Ampora." She says, as she steps out onto the porch, "Though, I hated every single minute of it." She waggles her tongue at you before turning away. It's dark out and you wonder if you should walk her home. It can get dodgy in Alternia late at night.

  
"I'll see you tomorrow." She begins down the path.

  
"Maybe we could meet here again." You suggest, as casually as you can.

  
"'S a date." She grins, "Maybe you could also take me about to a movie and buy me a nice meal and tell me I'm pretty." You're pretty sure that she's kidding but your heart leaps ahead of you all the same.

  
"As if, Pyrope." You force yourself to laugh and watch as she's swallowed by the darkness of the night. You're still standing there long after she's gone.


	3. The Bad News

It was so unfair. Three days into your joint project and you'd got barely any work done between the two of you. You'd been intending to work with her today at lunch, so that you could head into the school library and get some actual work done. She immediately shot you down.

  
"Sorry, Eridouche. I've got debate club at lunch." She shrugged nonchalantly, "If you really want to get some work done, you can do it yourself."

  
"It's a joint project, Tez. Wwe're meant to wwork together." You roll your eyes. She shakes her head and tuts, as if you're some kid she got stuck babysitting. She can talk, that immature little bitch.

  
"I'm not skipping club for you." Then, she swung her bag over her shoulder and left the room. The door swung shut behind her.

"I thought you fucking hated spending time with her. Aren't you glad you get some peace and quiet to yourself?" After getting shut down so quickly by Terezi, you went to see her best friend to see if he could offer some advice. The thing is, Karkat Vantas is not a person to go to for advice and especially not during music.

  
"I... Ugh..." You run one hand through your hair, slicking it back, "I don't hate spending time wwith her. I hate her." The sleepy bastard rubs his left eye with his fist, looking even more exhausted than usual.

  
"So you like spending time with her?" You think back to last night and how nice it felt to be so close to her, her grubby hand wrapped around yours. Her disgusting, filthy, sweaty, hand. You were willing to bet she didn't even wash them after she took a piss. You shudder.

  
"Yeah, I guess." You say and he groans. Karkat Vantas groans a lot- you know that because he's the kid that sits behind you in homeroom and across from you in music. You'd never really concerned yourself with him. You'd kinda had a small crush on him for a while, a year back. He was pretty attractive in a small and angry kind of way. He was constantly pissed at nothing in particular; the world just seemed to piss him off. You admired that about him.

  
"Are you telling me you like Rezi?" He looks at you in annoyance, as if you were ruining his entire life just by existing. You don't get a chance to answer anyway because Dave turns up then. He takes Karkat by the hand and pulls him to his feet.

  
"Dave, what the fuck?" Karkat demands.

  
"Sh, just come on." Dave's lip twitches upwards.

  
"Where are we going?" Then, they disappear from the room without giving you so much as a second glance.

You spend the rest of music messing around with the computers like you usually do. You're not good with computers but even an idiot knows how to bypass the school's security set-up so they can play World Of Warcraft. After that, it's lunch and you aren't looking forward to spending it with the swim team at your table like you usually do.

  
"Hey Eridan!" Feferi beams at you and gestures for you to take the empty seat next to her. A few days ago, you would have flipped out but your stomach doesn't even jolt. You take the seat beside her and focus your eyes on the table top.

  
"So, get this." Feferi grabs both of your hands and yanks hard on them so you're facing her. You look into her beautiful shining eyes and your heart speeds up. She really is incredibly beautiful, no wonder everyone loves her, you love her, oh god, oh god, your crush on her is back, she's so perfect.

  
"Sollux finally asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday. And I said yes." Suddenly, you remember why Feferi frustrates you. She can't just make your heart beat two hundred times a minute and then tell you she's taken. She's not even playing games with you like Terezi; she's just blatantly ignorant. You sink back into your seat.

  
"Oh. That's really great." You mutter with what little enthusiasm you can muster.

  
"I wanted you to be the first to know." Feferi pecks you on the cheek, "You're a great friend!"

Yeah. Right. Luckily, she then turns to one of her other friends to tell them about how great Sollux is. You don't want to spend the next hour wanting to claw your eyes out with a fork so you make some excuse about catching up on work and head towards to the library. You might as well get some of that stupid project work done. Once you get the project done, you can get Terezi out of your life and everything will go back to normal. You're sure of it.

It's when you're on your way to the library that you hear voices. Nearly everyone is at lunch so naturally, you're curious. So, you listen. Not because you're a nosy asshole or anything, you're just curious. Plus, their voices are pretty loud. The voices seem to be coming from a nearby classroom and one of them sounds worryingly familiar. Is that... Is that Terezi? But she's meant to be at debate club. That lying little bitch! You peep through the little window in the door. You can only see Terezi with her head bent and somebody standing over her. They're talking in quiet voices.

  
"It's going to be okay." The one that isn't Terezi is saying, "We're gonna get through this."

  
"I have got through this. I've been going through this since forever!" Terezi sounds pissed but also kind of teary. You wish you could see her face better. You wonder if she's crying. It's harder to picture Terezi crying. She's the kind of person that could break every bone in her body and just walk it off, without being threatened by tears.

  
"Do you wanna go see her? I was gonna head by the hospital after school anyway, Tuna's coming too. We'll take you with us." That must be Terezi's older sister, Latula. Sometimes, you see her when you go round Sollux's house as she's dating Sollux's older brother. Those two can barely spend five minutes apart.

Latula looks kind of like Terezi in that she's got messy long red hair that hangs past her shoulders and very pale white skin covered in freckles. But she's much taller than Terezi and skinnier, not as chubby. She also wears these square glasses with bright red frames that look like something right out of an '80s movie and t-shirts with retro TV show logos printed on them. She's the only person you've ever heard use the word "radical" and incredibly frequently too. And she's leaving the room so you back away from the door sharpish but don't have time to duck behind anything. She takes a second to register you and then gives you a curious look.

  
"Were you spying, dude? Not cool." Then, she takes a better look at you, "You're the Ampora brat!"

  
"I'm nothin' like Cronus, I swwear! And I wwas just lookin' for Tez!" You hold your hands up in surrender or maybe to defend yourself if she tries to hit you. One or the other.  
"You better keep your filthy hipster hands where I can see them." Latula warns. And then, she sweeps away without further explanation. Wwhat the fuck? You only have to stand outside for another few minutes before Terezi leaves the room.

  
"I'm sorry." She mutters as she stumbles into you.

  
"It's me." You say, "Wwhat's goin' on?" She does some kind of mental double take and she shoves you out of her way.

  
"It's none of your business." She's definitely got tears forming in her eyes. Holy shit, Terezi Pyrope cries? Like an actual human? You suddenly realise that you don't know her at all. Not one bit.

Gently, you take her by the hand and pull her closer to you. And with your other hand, you remove her glasses. Her hand flies up to shield her eyes subconsciously.

  
"I wwon't tell anyone anything, asshole." You say, "I can keep secrets."

She gives you a look of disbelief, tilting her head a little to one side.

"I don't need to tell you anything, idiot." Her insults are weak, a sure sign that she's upset, "I just need a minute to breathe and then I'll be fine."

"Okay." You pause, "Then, let's go. Let's go into towwn and get awway from school so you can breathe." She frowns.

"You're serious? About cutting class?" You shrug. Inside, your heart is beating faster than it ever beat before. Even faster than when Feferi held your hands and pecked you on the cheek earlier. But you play it cool.

"Sure. It'll be like a date." You realise you're still holding her hand and rub your thumb against the top of her hand. Her tense muscles relax and she sighs gently, her shoulders slumping.

  
"Okay, Ampora. As long as you walk me home afterwards and don't keep me out too late."

And that's how you win your first proper yet unofficial date with Terezi, though it doesn't really feel like one. She doesn't even bother to grab her jacket from her locker so she shakes and shivers the whole time you're walking out in the cold. And you're shaking and shivering because you're scared someone will see you just walking out of school and you'll get in trouble. And they'll see you holding hands with Terezi Pyrope and think you're dating- you don't know which would be worse. But nobody sees you, you don't think, and if they do nobody ever tells you so.

  
"Nervous, Eridan?" This whole time your hand has been gently gripping hers and she hasn't tried to pull away or anything. Weird.

  
"You tell me." You say, because it's just vague enough that she can't argue with it. With your spare hand, you unravel your scarf from around your neck and offer it to her.

  
"I don't want your filthy scarf." She mutters but she takes it from you and wraps it lazily around her. It drapes over her shoulder. You scowl.

  
"Like this, moron." And you stop walking and turn to her. You wrap the scarf properly around her neck and adjust it carefully. It takes you a few minutes to adjust it so it's perfect and the whole time, she's just standing there in silence just letting you do it. Your hands brush against her skin and you realise that she really is cold- her skin is absolutely freezing, like a snowy afternoon. You pull your sweater off over your head and dress her in that as well.

  
"You'll get cold, Eridan." She says, quietly.

  
"I don't feel the cold." You reply with a shrug. Then, the two of you continue walking.

You spend the rest of the day wandering around town and you take her to the sweetshop to cheer her up. The sugar does wonders and she perks up, even arguing with you and cackling by the end of the day. You'd like to say that you let her win all your arguments but really, she just did the walking mindfuck thing again. You hate that. You fulfil her promise and take her home just before five to her home in the somewhat middle class part of the city. You feel disgusted to be surrounded by these... These... Commoners. Ugh. Her home is a pretty big house but nowhere near as big as yours. The outside of the house been sloppily painted every colour of the rainbow and pieces of fabric and ribbons hang from the windows and the trees surrounding it. It looks like a five year old's art project. You tell her so and she slaps you on the arm

  
"You want your filthy clothes back?" She says, going to pull the sweater off.

  
"Like I wwant them back after you'vve wworn them. You can keep them." You pull a face and she laughs. Then, she steps up onto her porch and begins to fiddle with the lock. You take that as your cue to leave.

  
"Goodbye, asshole."

  
"See you, douche."


	4. The Accident

It was so unfair. You couldn't believe that she would do this. Out of all the things she's done to spite you so far, this is by far the worst. Because Terezi Pyrope has turned up to school today wearing the sweater you leant her yesterday with her jeans and sneakers. And your scarf is tying her hair back like it's a hair ribbon. The worst part is that every single person in the school knows that those are your clothes. And at least four different people have asked you if you slept with her last night. It's mortifying. Feferi just giggles at you, snickering every time you glance over at her, and Sollux is absolutely insufferable.

  
"Hey... Hey ED. Hey!" He throws a balled-up piece of paper at your head, "ED! Ampora! Asshole!" It hits your cheek and you wince. You hate him.

  
"What the fuck, Sol?" You turn to face him, scowling.

  
"I didn't know you and Terezi were dating. Let alone..." He makes the international hand symbol for sex and you lay your head down on your desk in complete and utter shame. Oh god, oh god. You want the ground to open up and swallow you.

  
"I didn't fuckin' touch her." You snarl. He grins.

  
"Then, why is she wearing the treasured Ampora sweater?" You hate him. You know he won't take "wwe didn't havve sex" for an answer. And that he's going to keep pushing you. Your fingernails dig into the wood of your desk.

  
"Hey ED!" That's when Terezi whirls around, her eyes practically flaming. Your scarf is holding her hair back and for once, you can see her entire face.

  
"Listen up, Captor." She scowls at him, "We didn't do anything. If we had, I would've spread it around by now. We didn't so much as hold hands." That was a total lie but she said it so convincingly, you almost believe it, "So, just shut your ungodly mouth. By the way, I know that you're planning to do it with Feferi and let me tell you that she's not interested."

Sollux's mouth shuts with a clunking noise as his teeth mash together. There's a squeak from Feferi's desk and evil laughter from Vriska's.

  
"Thank you for that useful insight, Miss Pyrope." Mr Hussie appears at the front of the room, coffee in his hand. Late as per usual. Terezi high fives you and turns back to face the front.

"Howw'd you knoww he wwas plannin' to sleep wwith Feferi?" You catch up with Terezi during lunch, as she's agreed to join you in the library today. The library's completely empty as you're not really meant to be in here.

  
"I guessed." Terezi's sitting on the ground, her back against the shelves of science fiction novels. A large stack of books rest in her lap and she's typing fast on a laptop with her left hand.

  
"You got pretty lucky there." You're sitting opposite her, staring at her and feeling happy that she's blind and completely oblivious to your eyes. She's pretty fuckin' gorgeous, especially in your swweater. It's too big on her and easily falls reaches her knees, the neck of it hanging slightly off her shoulder awkwardly. The dark purple goes surprisingly well with bright red.

  
"Yeah. So, you got swim practice today?" You don't even realise that she expects a reply for a moment, as you are too busy admiring the way her hair falls forward when she bows her head. And the way the light is bouncing off her soft red hair. And that she has freckles on the back of her neck too. Is there any where she doesn't have those godforsaken freckles?

  
"Huh? Oh yeah, I do." You slump back, consciously.

  
"You don't sound too happy about that." She notes, "I thought you liked swimming." You listen to her frantic one handed typing and can't help thinking that she's even competitive when she has nobody to compete against. She's ridiculous. You hate her.

  
"I do. Swwimming just doesn't like me." You shrug and flip a book open to a random page, just for something to do. The sound of the pages turning is wonderfully calming and familiar to you. It reminds you of how your dad used to read to you when you were just a little kid. If only he gave you that kind of affection now. You snort.

Your dad hates you. Sometimes, you just wonder about it and other times you are absolutely positive that it's true. You wonder about it when you see him roll up the driveway in the evenings and you go downstairs to greet him. All the way down those two flights of stairs and a ladder just to welcome him back home after his day at work doing... Whatever his job is. You don't really know.

  
"Hi Dad!" You try not to sound clingy because he hates that, "Had a good day?"

  
"It was decent." Your dad replies before heading off to his study and that's the extent of your conversation for the day. On the rare occasions he joins you and your brother for dinner, you don't really talk to each other. Unless he's scolding you for slouching or for holding your cutlery in the wrong hands. He hates that.

  
"Thinks vwe're fuckin' snickerdoodlers." Cronus always says, "Thinks vwe're gonna do ewverythin' he says." But your dad being weirdly cold and distant is something you can cope with. When he's angry, that's much, much worse. Like that time you were sick during that posh dinner party and threw up all over his shoes. That was horrible. Maybe you remember it wrong because you were pretty feverish but you remember him yelling horrible things at you the minute he got you home. He was ashamed of you, you were no son of his, no son of his would do such a thing. You think he might have even hit you. In fact, you're sure he did. But he did apologise for that. So what if he was cold to you for a while afterwards? You didn't blame him. You'd lost his company some big deal apparently. Cronus was the one that helped you out when you threw up again later- but you're pretty much that had more to do with being miserable than being sick.

"What're you thinking about, Eridan?" You realise that you've completely zoned out and that Terezi's scooted over to sit next to you instead of opposite you. Her head's tilted in your direction like she's looking at you but her hand is still tapping away at her laptop.

  
"Wwhat are your parents like?" The words escape your mouth before you can even begin to comprehend what they might mean to her. To your surprise, she doesn't yell at you or cry or anything. She just kind of sighs and slumps against you. Her head falls onto your shoulder and you nearly jerk back in surprise. But you keep control of yourself and stay still.

  
"I never really knew my dad." She says, after a few moments of almost silence, filled only by the sound of her fingers tapping away, pass.

  
"I nevver kneww my mom either." You say, "She died before I was old enough to."

  
"What got her?" Your arm sneaks behind her and wraps around her shoulders. She shifts and relaxes against you more, tufts of her hair tickling your skin.

  
"Don't knoww. My dad probably." It was meant to be a joke but it came out sounding harsher and more forced than intended. It was a thought that had occurred to you before but you'd always shoved it away. You couldn't afford to think like that.

  
"Your dad did seem pretty scary." Terezi says quietly, "My family got into an accident maybe a few years ago. God, it must have been nearly five or six years ago now. Feels like yesterday." There's a pause and you don't know if you should say something but you're glad you don't, as it seems she was only taking a moment to breathe, "My dad died."

  
"Your mom's okay, though?" You say but it catches in your throat and comes out sounding strangled.

  
"Not really, no." She takes another deep breath and it feels like she's trying to keep calm, "She's in the hospital. They don't know if she's gonna wake up."

You don't know what you're supposed to say.

  
"It was terrifying." Terezi continues, in a voice so small you can't believe it belongs to the sunny and annoying girl you know, "We were just out in the car, heading out to... I don't remember. Whatever."

"It was cold, there was ice. The car skidded off the road because on a icy patch. My mom was screaming and it... It was the most terrible noise I've ever ever heard.... I felt the cold on my skin and my eyes were in pain, they hurt so much. There was some barbed wire or something and..." She gestured poking her eye out and you cringed, "I woke up in hospital a while later but I couldn't see anything. I really, honestly thought I was dead. And they were talking to me, telling me about my eyes. And I was just asking to see my parents, to see my mom. But my dad died upon impact and my mom was still asleep. At the time, they thought she would wake up any minute. But minutes turned to hours turned to days turned to months and she's just getting worse! They're talking about turning her life machine off, Eridan!" She breathed heavily, "Latula was the only one that got away unscathed and sometimes I... I just hate her for it! I hate her! I hate her! Why didn't she lose anything that day? Dad lost his life, Mom practically did, I lost my sight. My life was ruined! I hate her! How can she just move on like nothing ever happened?" She inhales sharply, frowning as if it's paining her to talk and she takes a long moment to calm herself, before asking, "Can you skip practice today?"

  
"I'd be happy to." You say, glad to have an excuse not to go swimming; it was way too cold out for swimming but you seemed to be the only one on your team that thought this.

  
"Okay." Terezi wriggles and you loosen your grip, so she can escape. She stands up and brushes her hair back, readjusting her glasses so they sit on her nose properly.

  
"I'll meet you by your locker." She bends over and picks up her laptop, before heading out of the library. She leaves you alone with discarded books and a lot of things to think about.


	5. The Parents

It was so unfair. That's all you could think as you stared at the tubes and wires connecting Terezi's mom to the machine that was keeping her alive. You watched lines zig zag and listened the buzzes and beeps of the machine. That was her heartbeat. That was what living sounded like. Living. You wonder if your mom would have ended up like this if they'd found her broken body soon enough. If they'd found her crumpled body in the garage? Why had she even been in the garage, why? Your dad still didn't let you in the garage, so you guess you'll never know. You shiver.

  
"You should say hi." Terezi says, back at your side suddenly, "The doctors are sure she can hear us. Hi Mom." She'd been talking in quiet tones with a doctor out in the corridor. She didn't seem sad, she seemed to have put on a bright face. For her mom more than for you. You wonder if her mom really can hear her or if she's doing all this for nothing.

  
"Hi Mrs Pyrope." You say, unsurely.

  
"This is my boyfriend, Eridan." Terezi grins, "He probably doesn't know that he's my boyfriend though." She says it so casually that you don't even register the meaning behind that for a moment. Then, it all snaps into place and you flush a very dark shade of red, hiding your face behind your scarf. Is she playing with you? She turns to you, all freckled and grinning, like some kind of pixie.

  
"That's cool with you, right?"

  
"I thought you hated me."

  
"I do hate you." She's so difficult. She can't even handle a proper conversation like an adult, instead she acts like a child. She plays games with you for reasons that you're not even sure she understands. But you're not going to deny that she makes your heart flutter and your palms sweat- maybe out of love or maybe out of pure hatred. She makes you sick to your stomach.

  
"He's an asshole, Mom." She says, "I think you'd hate him." She laughs and in that split second, you understand how close Terezi is with her mom. And you're jealous.

You spend the next three hours sat on a blue plastic chair that cramps your back, probably because you're sitting incorrectly, but you don't even care. Time flies by when Terezi's talking, words flowing from her mouth effortlessly like a river of pointless babble. You can't even be bothered to shut her up. You find out a lot of things about her as Terezi chatters on about breakfast and classes and teachers and other students and you find out with a start that she comes here nearly every day after or before school. After a while, you're not even listening to the words, you're just listening to the rhythm of her voice rising and falling. And you're watching her mom's chest rise and fall in time with her as she carries on living despite the odds. It's a good thing that Latula turns up at six because otherwise Terezi probably would have carried on well into the night. And you would have listened, enthralled. Listening to Terezi talk is like listening to book pages being turned in a storybook or like footsteps along the sidewalk on a silent night or a billion other dumb metaphors.

  
"There you are, Rezi! I've been looking all over for you!" Latula's eyes land on you and her eyebrows pull together to form an expression of displeasure. You scowl back at her.

  
"Well, you didn't look very hard." Terezi shrugs, without so much as turning to face her.

  
"I've called you like seven times, man. You didn't even pick up." Latula's voice sounds cold too, underneath the laid back tone. You shiver.

  
"My phone's dead." Terezi says and she stands up, gesturing to you, "Besides, I was with Eridan. I didn't need you to be looking out for me."

  
"Ampora." Latula makes a disgusted noise.

  
"Don't talk about my boyfriend like that!" Terezi snaps at her sister, stepping towards her. Latula steps forward too and Terezi's head is exactly level with her sister's chest. But then, Latula's waist is the thickness of Terezi's thigh.

  
"Oh, he's your boyfriend now?"

  
"Yes he is. And he's nothing like Cronus, okay?"

  
"All Amporas are the same."

  
"He's not just some sleaze!"

  
"I think you better go." Latula turns to you and you freeze up, nodding slowly. And you rise to your feet and turn away, walking as fast as you can towards the door. You're not a sleaze, you're not! And slowly, as you walk, you begin to hate Latula but not for the same reasons Terezi does.

You move like a movie that's been paused for a long time, paused for such a long time that you forget that the movie ever moved. And then, you unpause it and it's suddenly moving so fast that it makes you jump. You move quickly down the sidewalk, your head down and your feet moving fast. It's not quiet, of course not. You can hear a siren far away and hear somebody getting laid in a car and somewhere, somebody's playing obnoxiously loud music. But the world feels quiet to you. So, you are startled when your phone suddenly pings with a notification. Somebody is pestering you.

gallowsCalibrator [GC] began pestering caligulasAquariam [CA]  


CA: um hi?  


GC: 1TS M3  


GC: YOUR G1RLFR13ND  


GC: SUP 4SSHOL3  


CA: hi tez  


CA: i thought your phone wwas dead  


GC: OH YOU 3V3N TYP3 W1TH YOUR FUNNY 4CC3NT!

You have to tear your eyes away from your screen then as you're nearly home. You can see your stately home coming up and are surprised to see that your dad is home. He's normally returned home and headed out again by this time. Well, you suppose it is rather late. Maybe he decided to stay in tonight.

CA: shut up  


CA: i cant control my fuckin' accent  


GC: 4NYW4Y  


GC: 1M SORRY TUL4 Y3LL3D 4T YOU  


CA: its okay  


CA: im used to it  


GC: SH3 S4YS 1 C4NT S33 YOU  


GC: 4ND 1 4GR33D  


GC: 1 C4NT S33 YOU  


GC: 1 C4NT S33 4NYON3

You break your gaze again and chuckle as you ram the keys into the lock. They're a little rusty but you force them to turn and let yourself into the house. And immediately, something feels strangely wrong. You can't hear Cronus playing his old fashioned rock music on his speakers. Your dad's study door hangs open.

CA: shit shitshit  


GC: WH4T  


GC: DONT YOU L1K3 MY S3NS3 OF HUMOUR  


CA: it's not that  
CA: somethings really really wwrong  
CA: i dont knoww wwhat  
CA: ill be back just givve me a sec

You slide your phone into your pocket and approach your dad's study slowly. As you get closer, you see his form slumped over his desk. He never slumps, he hates people who slump. His cigarettes lie unlit on his desk.

  
"Dad..?" You feel suddenly unsure of yourself. And you feel very, very unsafe. But you keep telling yourself that nothing's wrong, he's just fallen asleep. You reach for his shoulder and he doesn't so much as flinch. He seems to be asleep. Images of Terezi's mom hooked up to her life machine, beeping and zig zagging as it keeps her alive. Would you even miss your dad? Of course, you would. Even if he does hate you, he's still your dad.

  
"Cronus!" You scream for your brother, "CRONUS!" Please, please let him be home. There's crashing as somebody stumbles down the stairs. It takes what feels like forever but Cronus is at your side. So, why are you still screaming his name frantically? His boyfriend's here too and he's the one that's dialling the phone. Cronus is holding you by the arm and trying to shut you up, twisting your arm at a painful angle. Oh god, oh god, oh god. You fumble for your phone.

CA: tez you still there  


GC: 4R3 YOU OK4Y?  


CA: not really  


CA: my dads not wwaking up  


GC: C4LL 4N 4MBUL4NC3!!!!!!!!!  


CA: kans doin that i think  


CA: just keep talkin  


CA: otherwwise i think i might pass out  


GC: OK4Y  
GC: JUST T4K3 D33P BR34THS  
GC: BR34TH1NG 1S 1MPORT4NT  
GC: W4NT M3 TO C4LL YOU?

She doesn't even wait for an answer and a second later, your phone starts ringing. You put it to your ear and let Cronus guide you out of the room.

  
"Hi Terezi." Her voice is oddly calming, even though she sounds frantic. Words spills from your mouth faster than you can register them and you launch into a panicky sort of rant about your dad and how he hates you and how you used to run away but came back because you were scared he'd find you and about how they never found the cause of your mom's desk but you heard your parents yelling the night before and how her body had been crumpled in defeat and about how scared you were sometimes. You sit down on the windowseat of your front room and keep talking to her, rambling on and on, even when the ambulance turns up. Your brother asks if you want to come but you signal that you're busy and he fucks off. After you run out of words, she takes her turn at talking. Her voice is jumpy and nervous as she talks but just the sound of it is reassuring. She reassures that you're okay, you're going to be okay, you're just panicking. You realised that you could get in such trouble for voicing your worries out loud and begin apologising and telling her you were exaggerating. Maybe you were. You keep talking to Terezi well into the night and only hang up when she starts yawning on the other side of the line. Then, you just think.

Maybe your dad is a very, very bad person but there's nothing you can do about that. Or maybe your judgement is clouded by his dislike for you. Maybe you're just seeking attention. You don't even lock the door behind you when you leave the house. Who cares?


	6. The Kiss

It was so unfair. Why did people keep asking if you if you were okay? And why did Feferi give you that look, that look of pity that meant you avoided her at lunch for fear of seeing it again? Even Mr Hussie asked if you were okay and laughed when you got pissed at him. Not cruelly, he was just amused by you yelling at him about where he should stick his questions. You stayed in the classroom at lunch and Terezi met you there. You were glad to see her and even gladder when, instead of asking if you were alright, she just smacked you on the arm and called you a pussy.   
"I can't believe how panicked you got!" She laughed, but it sounds forced, "All he did was overdose on aspirin!" You can sense the worry behind her words but shrug it off. You set yourself to work finishing the writing aspect of your project. Yeah, it turns out your dad was going to be fine. He just had to stay in hospital a week or so. But wwhatevver.   
"Hey, Eri." She pats you on the arm, gentle this time, "Did you sleep last night?"   
"No." You mutter, "After you had to go, I wwent for a long wwalk around the block."   
"But it's dangerous out there at nights. There's gang fights." Terezi says, her mouth hanging open, "Your brother just let you go? 'Tula would kill me if I stepped foot outside." She sounds impressed and frustrated, somehow at the same time; frustrated at you for going and Cronus for letting you go, but impressed you made it back alive.   
"It wwas fine." You hadn't really been thinking, "I didn't see anyone, just some drunks. I didn't get into trouble. And Cronus wwas busy wwith Kankri."   
"Busy?" Terezi raises an eyebrow, "That late at night?"   
"They're always busy late at night." You say, "Busy wwith kissing and shit." She pauses as she stands on tip toe and sits herself on top of a desk, opening her laptop.   
"Have you ever kissed anyone?" There was a question and a half. 

You suppose you'd never really properly kissed anyone, not properly. You'd never really wanted to kiss anyone properly with lips and tongues and salvia. You'd spent most of your childhood wanting to kiss Feferi but you'd been innocent and just wanted a peck on the lips. You had thought grown up kissing was utterly disgusting, cringing whenever it happened on TV.   
"You ever kissed anyone?" Feferi had asked once, when you were ten. She'd glanced sideways at you, tossing her mass of blonde and pink curls. You'd been sat with her at the poolside, during some swim meet or competition or something.   
"No." You'd said quietly, wondering if you should have. Wondering if you would be considered a freak for making it all the way to ten years old without kissing somebody.   
"Me neither." Feferi had said and you'd breathed a sigh of relief. You remember that she was wearing a pink tankini and when she leaned back, the skin of her stomach peeked out from under her top. She had a stick-on glitter tattoo of a dolphin next to her belly button, shining in the sunlight. She looked at you and opened her mouth, about to speak, when the whistle went. It was her turn to swim the 100 metres and she was ever so confident about it. She removed her glasses and slid her goggles on before dashing off to swim. She loved swimming. And swimming loved her back. Everyone said she was like some kind of mermaid, (she loved that, especially when she went through her Little Mermaid obsession).

The first time you'd kissed someone was that same year and it was at the school Christmas party; there had been many before but you were eleven by then and thought that was the perfect age to receive your first kiss. Eleven was when Harry Potter first defeated Voldemort and gosh darn, it was going to be the year you kissed a girl. Because, in your head, kissing Fef and defeating Voldemort were equally as important. You'd waited all night under the mistletoe, waiting for Feferi to wander over from where she was dancing in a pink glittery dress and pointy heels- god, she was cute- with her friends. She didn't wander over. She wasn't your first kiss. Your first kiss wasn't even somebody you were friends with or even liked. No, your first kiss had been Vriska Serket.   
"Heeeeeeeey!" She collided with you in the doorway, as you were leaving at the end of the party, "Fancy meeting you under the mistletoe, Ampora!" Before you could protest, she'd reached up and pecked you slightly on the lips. It couldn't have lasted more than a second but it was still disgusting. You shoved her away and pushed past her in the doorway. Now that you think, you can remember glancing back and seeing Vriska turn to Terezi.   
"Did you see that?" She said; she paused and then, the two of them had laughed. Terezi was newly blinded then and still adjusting to it, sucking on a candy cane. You remember that the two of them were wearing matching dresses that hung off the shoulder and the skirts had layers of lace on them. They were wearing sneakers and glittery eye make-up that they'd obviously applied themselves. Terezi was wearing red and white striped tights with silver tinsel threaded through her hair and looked adorable. 

You shake your head and look back to Terezi. Why did you remember exactly what she was wearing? You guessed it was just one of those memories that stuck in your head for no particular reason. You hadn't even liked her back then. You weren't even sure if you liked her now.   
"No." You say, "I'vve nevver kissed anyone." Because that kiss with Vriska didn't count and the only one you'd had since then was Sollux. Your kiss with Sollux surely didn't count either as you hadn't even used tongues, plus you were kinda tipsy.   
"I have." Terezi admitted, "I was like fourteen though and it wasn't even a good kiss." Her legs are swinging back and forth. Your kiss with Sollux was at fourteen too.

It was a party, which you remember was a proper highschooler party, as there was alcohol and no parents around. Also, it was at Porrim Maryam's house and she was the most badass teenager you had ever met. And she terrified you. Cronus had taken you with him and you found out later that most people had gone with their siblings. Obviously, Kanaya Maryam was there. And Sollux was there with Mituna. You wonder if Terezi had been there as you did remember seeing her sister on the couch with Mituna, the two of them kissing and clutching at each other. You were disgusted.   
"Wwhy do people do that?" You'd hissed to Cronus, who had chuckled at you. He'd vanished soon after, hunting for girls and boys and everyone in between- Cronus wasn't picky. Then, you were left hopeless and lonely. You wandered for a bit, drinking a bit of this and smoking a bit of this. You hated the cigarettes that somebody handed you, they were disgusting. But the alcohol was pretty good. You were a little tipsy by the time you stumbled outside for fresh air.   
"Hey ED." You were happy to see Sollux, after chilling on your own for a while. He seemed pretty glad to see you too but you were pretty sure he'd been drinking too. He was pretty cool, not his usual asshole self.   
"Hey Sol. Wwhat's up?" You collapsed beside him on the grass, underneath the moonlight and the stars. He started mumbling on about "fucking Mituna with hith bitch of a girlfriend" and "just fucking abandon me, aththole" and "I could have a girlfriend if I wanted to". The whole time you just hummed and nodded along. 

And slowly, you edged closer and closer to him on the grass. It might have been the alcohol but he looked fucking gorgeous that night. With his messy white hair and his brown eye and his blue eye behind his glasses. He was wearing all black, you remember that, and skinny jeans that you just wanted to rip off him. And you were surprised by that thought; you'd never thought about anything beyond kissing before. You were a late bloomer, Cronus had always teased. You never entirely understood what puberty could do to a person until that moment.   
"Hey, douchebag, are you lithtening?" Sollux said, irritation clear in his voice. He leaned back and your head came to rest on his shoulder. You nuzzled your face against the skin of his neck.   
"What are you doing?" Sollux exclaimed, in shock, "Eridan!" You shushed him, sleepily. And you're pretty sure he kissed you on the forehead, just above your glasses. You tilted your head a little and kissed him lazily on the mouth. No tongue, just lips and a little bit of sucking. He was tired too.   
"That was grothth." He chuckled quietly, "Am I gonna need to get your drunk athth home, Ampora?" You remember that he does get you home, convincing his brother driving you and him home. Mituna's driving was terrifying. You remember stumbling to bed and passing out. He never brought up the kiss again and you didn't either. Sometimes, you think you dreamt it. Maybe you did. 

You're brought back to present day by Terezi's voice.   
"I kissed Karkat once. At a party." She's saying, "But we both decided that it was weird and that we really were just friends. It was kinda an experiment." She puts her laptop aside and slides into your lap, "So, you're my first proper kiss." Her fingers tangle with your hair and she pulls your head down so she can reach. The pen falls from your hand as she kissed you, pressing her hot lips up against yours. She's a sloppy kisser, using her tongue a lot and sucking hard on your skin. She bites your bottom lip with her pointed teeth, making you yelp. It's not how you pictured your first proper kiss but you wouldn't have it any other way. You kiss her back, worried your tongue is going to get cut by her braces.   
"Wwe're nevver gonna finish this project, are wwe?" You mutter against her lips and she laughs. You feel her laughter shaking against your body, feeling it all the way down to where your toes are curling up inside your shoes.   
"I win." She whispers.


	7. The Beach

It was so unfair. Terezi shouldn't be allowed to be so beautiful and she definitely shouldn't raise the threat of an frustrated boner forming in your swim shorts. You cross your legs consciously and try not to look at her. She's sat beside you, her chubby thighs pressed together and they're freckled all over. Because of her bikini top, you can see the rolls of stomach which have a few freckles. Her belly button pokes out at you cheekily. Her red hair is tied is loose bunches and threads of hair are escaping down the back of her neck. You just want to touch her all over, running your hands all over her soft skin.You grow very hot and began to fan yourself with your magazine. 

It was Friday afternoon, just after school, and the last day of your project with Terezi. Only the pair of you had totally given up on handing anything decent in and figured you'd worked hard enough- you'd probably scribble down a page or two at five in the morning on Monday to finish it. So, as it was your turn to pick a date and as the weather was nice today, you'd taken her to the beach. Not alone, of course. Cronus had come too, bringing his boyfriend. And because of Kankri, Karkat had came and so had Dave. The Lalonde girl had tagged along too with her girlfriend, so it had become quite the party.   
"Do not worry, Eridan." Kanaya had patted your shoulder, mockingly, "We will leave you alone to seduce and use awkward methods of flirtation on your girlfriend." Her and Rose had snickered and made remarks like that all the way here. It had driven you insane. They abruptly shut up once Terezi got in the car and resorted to nudging each other instead and making kissy faces.   
"Hey Terezi." Karkat had said, grouchily. He'd shifted into the next seat, without a word, so your girlfriend could sit beside you. She did, leaning against you and chattering away about the most pointless of things. And you loved every second of it. 

When you'd got here, the others had made a beeline for the sea or for ice cream. That left you, Terezi and Karkat to set up your stuff in the sunniest spot you could find. Once he made sure you didn't touch his stuff and after a bit of urging from Terezi, Karkat pushed off to find Dave.  
"So gay." Terezi called after him. He flipped her off. Then, Terezi had laid down on her towel and presumably gone to sleep. You couldn't just leave her there on her own, so you sat beside her and stared at her. And wondered if you should rub some suncream on her to stop her burning to death. Eventually, you settle for reading your magazine and glancing up every once a while to make sure she hasn't fried. 

"Hey Eri." It surprises you when she speaks, as you thought she was asleep. She sits up, her ankles uncross and your attention is drawn to the cerulean and teal bead anklet tied there. It's a friendship thing, you're sure of it. And that shade of cerulean just screams Vriska. You wonder why they stopped being best friends and what that big fight was about. Maybe Terezi will tell you some day.   
"Hey Tez." You reply coolly, putting your magazine aside to give her your full attention. She shifts closer to you and the skin of her wrist brushes against you. The hairs on the back of your neck prickle.   
"Wwhat's up?" You add, when she doesn't say anything to further your conversation. She just looks at you and she gives you a wicked grin.   
"Aren't you going to show me your swift swimming moves, Ampora?" You only groan in response and flop down on your towel. She laughs and you know this isn't something you can escape from. She's not going to let you escape. Her hand closes around yours.   
"Come on, Mr Swim Team Captain." Reluctantly, you are pulled to your feet and lead across the hot sand. The ocean hates you and you know it. But you let her drag you forward, putting one foot in front of the other on the hot sand. You slow down as you reach the water and she feels and tugs harder on your hand. 

The water's delightfully cold and Terezi lets out a squeal of delight and shock. You just shudder and hate yourself for it. You try to let go of her hand so you can wade out deeper- she seems reluctant to get anything more than her toes wet- but she just squeezes your hand tightly. You're sure she just broke three of your fingers.   
"I don't like it, Eridan!" She declares, "Help me in." You sigh and take hold of her other hand too. Slowly, you step backwards and begin to guide her into the water. You know she's just trying to be difficult- Terezi Pyrope's not scared of anything.   
"Come on. You're nearly there." The waves are lapping at your knees weakly. By the time it reaches your waist, her arms have wrapped around you and her chest is pressed up against your stomach. She's so short.   
"Rezi, this is ridiculous." You mutter, as you feel her stand on your toes. She just makes a pathetic, simpering, whimpering noise followed by what sounds like a muffled giggle. 

When the water reaches your shoulders, you begin to panic. Not as much as Terezi, who's kicking frantically to keep herself afloat. Once the ground falls away from beneath you and you're treading water too, you realise that maybe this was a mistake. You were just trying to play her at her own game. But even the best players can make a mistake.   
"You okay?" You manage, spluttering a little as your mouth slips under.   
"I'm fine." Terezi spits a mouthful of water at you. She's still clinging to you and she's dragging you under with her. This was a bad, bad idea. But you don't feel like you could get the two of you back to shore now. Fuck.   
"You're a shitty swimmer." Terezi laughs and her kicking falters and she's dragged underneath the water. She pulls you down with her. 

Under the water, you blink several times against the waves until you can force your eyes open. Everything looks blurred without your special goggles- your eyesight is incredibly shitty- but you can see her. A mass of red hair and pale skin and her white eyes. She's frantic. You let yourself sink down until you reach the bottom and kick off from it. You reach out and grab her hand, yanking her back to the surface.   
"Terezi." You gasp, "I can't swwim. My dad payed my wway into the swwim team."   
"Eridan!" She chokes, her mouth dripping with water like a river. Your eyes sting from salt water.   
"We're going to die!" Terezi gasps. She wasn't kidding or playing around with you, you realise, she really can't swim.   
"Wwe're not going to die!" You reply, as calmly as you can manage, "Wwe're just going to swwim back until you can touch the bottom. Okay? Just keep your head abovve the wwater." You reach through the murky seawater and grab her by the hand, "Kick wwith your legs, okay?"   
"No, I was planning to kick with my arms." Sarcastic even when drowning. You're tempted to just let her drown. But even you aren't that cruel. 

It's only when you come within closer distance of the shore that Terezi wriggles free of your grip and swims effortlessly the rest of the way to shore. Leaving you to puff and flail behind her. Oh my god! She can swim! She can swim even better than Feferi! That bitch! That bitch! She's like a mermaid gliding through the water.   
"Come on, Eridan." As soon as you reach the sand, she grabs you by your hand and pulls you to your feet- you were crawling on the ground by that point. She pulls your head down and kisses you gently, breathing into your mouth.   
"Wow, Ampora." Dave's smug voice reaches your ears, "That was some majestic ass swimming out there. Like a dolphin or something." You look over the top of Terezi's head to see him impersonating you. Oh god, you hadn't really flailed that much had you? Karkat laughs.   
"Now, now." Kankri begins, "Dave, you shouldn't be cruel about Eridan's inability to function as a basic human being and Karkat, you shouldn't laugh. It's just plain unkind." Bastard. You collapse back on your towel and decide you're not going to move ever again.   
"You're a bitch, Terezi Pyrope." You growl at her.   
"I won." She picks up her shades and slides them back on, "You want ice cream, Eridouche?" You just grumble and she giggles annoyingly, making you want to stab her. You watch as she disappears from sight.   
"She loves to play with you, doesn't she?" Kankri comments.   
"Not the same wway Cronus lovves to play wwith you." You reply and he makes a choking noise. Everybody else laughs and seems to forget about your near drowning for the rest of the day. 

It's early evening when everybody begins to pack up and get ready to leave. But Terezi's still out in the shallow part of the ocean, wading up and down. Her bunches swish as she walks. You whistle at her, calling her over.   
"Tez. I told you suncream wwas important." Earlier, you had noticed that her skin was beginning to grow sore and warned her about sunburn. She'd shrugged it off. But now, her skin was definitely burnt, no doubt about it.   
"Fuck your suncream." Terezi says, somewhat miserably.   
"Baby Jesus and his sheep." Cronus whistles, glancing over, "You're burnt up more than a cigarette, TZ." He's actually holding a cigarette in his hand as he speaks, blowing smoke in your face with each word. You cough. You've never been able to stand your brother's filthy habit.   
"Shut up, pervert." Terezi says, swatting the smoke away from her face. But she doesn't object as you fumble in the bag for suncream, which you guess might help. Better than nothing. She does object when you sit her down and began to rub it into her sore shoulders, wincing and mumbling.   
"If you had listened to your partner's advice earlier, you would not be suffering now." Kankri said, wisely. You could punch him. You were allowed to gloat and be a cunt about it; he was not.   
"You should'vve listened to your partner's advvice and swwallowed, instead of spitting." You say. Kankri flushes a bright shade of red and you know you've hit another raw nerve. You love screwing with Kankri. The same way Terezi loves screwing with you, you guess.   
"Like you would know anything about my sexual behaviour." Kankri says, uptightly.   
"I knoww you're inexperienced in it." You say.   
"You're one to talk, honey." Terezi says, in a patronisingly sickly tone. You make sure to rub the cream extra hard into her back so she cringes at the sharp pain.   
"Whilst I'm enjoying this witty banter, could you assholes get the fuck in the car so Cronus can get your sorry asses home?" Karkat's called shotgun and is waiting impatiently. You finish up with the suncream and go to climb into the backseat of the car- actually, it's more of a limo. Wwhatevver. Then, you pause and turn back to Terezi. You pull your polo shirt off over your head and force her to hold her arms up, so you can slide it on her. She's reluctant and grumbles but you know it's for the best.   
"Thank god you have such a flat chest." You say and she slaps you. 

You drop Terezi off first, as Kanaya and Rose have spent the last ten minutes arranging who's going to be dropped off when to make it as difficult as possible and decided she would be first. Why? You don't know but they keep giggling. You hate those lesbians and their mind games- they're as bad as Terezi. You climb out of the car first and help her out, holding her around the waist and lifting her down. She's pretty exhausted.   
"Your sunburn feeling any better?" You ask, tentatively, as you head up the driveway to her house. She just shakes her head and mumbles something incomprehensible under her breath. You don't push the subject but her skin is burning hot and you can see visible sweat forming on her forehead. You can't resist.   
"Told you so." You say.   
"Shut up." She replies. Unfortunately, it takes less than a minute to reach her front door as she doesn't have a huge driveway like you do. Within seconds, she's standing on the porch and turning away from you quickly.   
"Hey. Rezi." You grab her by the wrist and she turns back to you. Yeah, she's looking pretty bad. Latula's going to kill you.   
"What?" She murmurs, sounding a little bit dazed.   
"Take care of yourself, okay?" Feeling assured that she probably won't remember this conversation, you kiss her on the cheek. She smiles a small smile and you get the impression you should leave now, before you ruin this by talking. So, you step back and-  
"Is this it?" Terezi blurts out, suddenly.   
"Wwhat?" 

She hesitates a moment, shifting from foot to foot.   
"Now that our project's over." She says, "I'm not gonna see you anymore, am I?" You'd never even thought about that. You suppose you don't really have a reason to hang out with her anymore.   
"Maybe not." You sigh, sadly, "I guess this is it."   
"It was fun pretending to be your girlfriend." She shrugs. Wwait, wwhat? You're taken aback for a second but then, you study her face. You know her well enough to know she's probably screwing with you. You shrug too and turn and you just slowly walk away.   
"Hey- hey, Eridan!" Terezi protests; she thought that you had taken her seriously, "Eridan! Come back!" You open the car door and glance back at where she's standing by her front door, frowning. Oh god, she'd so fallen for it.   
"You're not the only one that can play games, Pyrope." You call, grinning, "I'll be here tomorroww to help wwith those burns."  
"Fuck you!" She yells. Chuckling, you climb back into the car and slam the door shut behind you.   
"I wwin." You mutter to yourself. And you finally have.


End file.
